Difficult is how I call this!
by Anjanka
Summary: It's the story about someone we all love and know: Numair as a child...Meet him and discover why he has some of the charactertraits he has. 3rd chapter up! R
1. Meet the guy

_This fic is for Maud and Lireal..i hope you read it, if not, Ill have to tell you about it!_

_A/N: soo...read it and review it...well, ll write the rest below, just give it a chance_

_disclaimer: arram's not mine...not completely, i have no idea how Tammy will describe him in the book being published in 2008 (is it?). The rest is..I think mine, not the name "Draper" of course...well, i dont earn any money with this, so it shouldnt matter ;-)_

_enjoy it!_

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**Difficult is how I call it!**

_First part:_ Hope _Chapter 1:_ Meet the guy

The sun rose behind the horizon, shadows grew smaller and lighter.

At this time of the day, it was still very quiet in Mandala, a small village on the Southern Isle of Lumata, Lumatira. Yet, if you listened carefully enough, you could hear the first birds awake.

Only minutes later, the silence was broken by some lively young girls who started their daily work: taking the sheep, or cows, or goats out to graze. On their way towards the dry yellow meadows they passed barracks with soldiers in them. In the bright sun at noon, nobody worried about them as the inhabitants of Mandala, especially the younger ones, couldn't imagine the time before the military control had started. At night, the situation was completely different: Girls and women were warned from passing the barracks alone or even in groups without men, rumours about rape were told from mother to daughter, from sister to sister, and from friend to friend.

In the quiet hours of the morning, even the soldiers slept after a long night of drinking, throwing dices, singing dirty songs, and making out with whichever girls were their current favourites. Just a few tired-looking men on the watch were awake. They didn't bother the girls at all.

Mrs Draper woke her youngest child, five-year-old Arram, who had been fast asleep in his blankets on the floor in one corner of the room, after her daughters, Semma and Sumi, had left with the goats and her husband had gone working in the fields. Arram didn't want to wake up at all. He had been dreaming about killing giants, and turning them into small flies. Only when his mother smiled down on her son, and allowed him to go and bring a meal to his sisters at noon, the small boy with the sensitive mouth opened his huge brown eyes that were framed by long lashes. „Get up, darling, I'll make you some breakfast." Luda put a cup of milk and a kind of sweet corn pancake on a plate along with honey from the woods on the table. As soon as Arram had started eating, she said „You know, I hate it when you have to eat alone, but I've got a lot of work to do, so you understand that, don't you, honey?"

„Sure, Mother"

„And when the sun reaches its highest position, you take this basket out to the girls. You can eat with them, there's enough for the three of you. In the morning, I ask you to go to the woods and search for mushrooms, in the afternoon I might have a surprise for you. Is there anything else you need at the moment?"

"No, mommy. Just go to work an' I'll head for the woods."

Grinning, the boy jumped off his chair and ran outside. He walked through the village, looked for his friends and persuaded some of them to join his "mission". In the children's game, the mushrooms became fairies, good and evil ones, who were to be caught and brought to Arram's mother - the good ones – or changed back into mushrooms and used to mix potions they luckily never drank. The part involving the potions was Arram's favourite: What ever he could find – leaves, gras, poisonous mushrooms, rotten berries, and sand – was thrown into an old pot, and cooked over a fire. In his childish understanding of magic, Arram whispered or shouted words he made up, and distributed the potion around the area. The fact that nothing happened didn't stop him from trying again and again…

When the sun had risen higher and higher and nearly reached its zenith, Arram went back home, put the basket filled with eatable mushrooms in the kitchen, and grabbed the one containing the picnic.

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_So, you read it...what do you say? do you want to read any more of this stuff? Shall i go on? This time I'm better prepared, ive got some more of it finished...sorry again for my last fic, I'm not sure I want to go on, you guys made me so unsure...never mind, that doesnt belong here._

_i'm not sure if Arram would call his mother "Mother" or "Mommy" or sth completely else...actually I don't know at all how english-speaking children talk -(_

_What I basically wanted to say: i hope my style is okay and there are not too many mistakes in it. If somebody can tell me another word for "small goat" or "animal" youre very welcome..._

_so, press this button down there and say sth nice... or flame me, but say sth!_


	2. Healing

_Thanks to my reviewers... could we just pretend Numair didn't come from Tyra? Cause I didn't know this..very embarassing...Lumatira is supposed to be an island south-east from Carthak, very old-fashioned and poor...  
I don't think this chappy's longer but...here it is...hope I'll be able to upload the next one soon (maybe Saturday...)_

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**Difficult is how I call this!**

_Part 1:_ Hope _Chapter 2:_ Healing

Out on the pasture, Semma and Sumi lay on the gras. They had spent the morning wreathing flowers and playing hide-and-seek. Sumi had dozen off and also Semma felt very sleepy when a cry woke both of them. It sounded like one of the goats in pure panic. Quickly the girls rose, and headed to where the sound had come from. Semma, the older one, discovered the source of the noise: One of the small goats had fallen into a hole in the ground – its mother stood next to it, crying for help. Luckily, the hole wasn't too deep, and therefore the girls could save the animal in no time. Still, the goat was injured, and Sumi hadn't learned to heal up to now. Only Semma had an idea about what to do, yet she had only started her healer training the year before on her tenth birthday.

"My god, poor little thing! Come into Sumi's arms! … Semma, can you help him? Can I do anything? D'you need water? Can I hold him?"

"Shhh, stay calm, Sumi. D'you want to frighten the cutekid even more than it already is? Please, get me some water from the river, I'll start the healing."

Semma sat down with the little goat on her lap, the worried mother – goat next to her cried out loud. The girl stroked it absently, and set to work: She let her magic float on the wounds and broken bones, just as she had learned form the village healer, and with this fastened the natural process of healing. When the animal looked much better, Sumi was allowed to feed it some water.

In this moment, the two sisters heard footsteps, someone, their little brother, was approaching them. Semma smiled, "Arram looks so sweet, when he runs around the countryside, doesn't he?"

Sumi looked at him as well, but with her eight years, she obviously wasn't old enough to think so.

"What you doin' there, Sem 'n' Sum? Healing? What's happened to the little goatie? Did…"

"Hello, Arram. Nice to se you", Semma said, being very much the older sister.

"Sure, hello. I've brought your food. Now…did a fox come? Will you teach me healing?"

"No fox, Arram. The goat fell into a hole, no, I can't teach you, you're much too young and I'm not trained for this! Plus, I have no idea if you're talented at all. But you can clean the blood away from its wounds."

The boy's expression that had clouded while she talked, lit up again. He smiled his bright, heart-warming smile, and Semma handed the goat over to him. Happily he cleaned its fur, while Semma washed her hands. When they were done, Sumi took out an extra-blanket she had brought because she had planned to have a swim in the river in the afternoon, and wrapped the animalin it. Then she placed the small thing next to its mother on the ground, and walked over to her siblings, who had laid out the picnic.

"I wanna work magic, too! I wanna **heal**!"

This subject had become the boy's favourite one lately.

"You know you can only be tested when you're eight! Shut up about this!"

"But I want!"

"You can't always get what you want!", Sumi shouted angrily, "Stick to your potions and do the test when you're old enough. Then you'll see…"

Later, when Arram went back towards he village, Semma whispered, "Don't worry, I definitely have the magic, and I'm quite sure, Sumi does as well. So why shouldn't you?"

Arram seemed comforted and ran back home to meet his mother.

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_So, there you have your little Arram...Sumi's not supposed to be mean..she's only too young to understand Arram..._

_**Beth: Let's see what I can do for you...I'm thinking about linking it with my ther fic which concerns his escape from Carthak but we'll see how much time and ideas I have to write it...**_

**_um: you again..you don't have a name, do you? well, as I said..I didn't know this...why do you all?_**

**_Narm's Briton: Thanx...I only mean that if there's some strange phrase I keep using or if I start writing like we learn at school (sounds very educatd) you should tell me...glad you like it! I'll use your suggestions for the next chappy_**

**_wildchild: see? i used it... I didn't even realise about the " marks...in German theyre supposed to b on the bottom at the beginning of a phrase and at the top at the end of it...don't know why my compi keeps changing it... I am tring to write longer chappies...I just have to update before I get too unsure about my language..._**

_So, now review!_


	3. Presentiment

_Well...here's the next part...It's already the third, yeay ;-) Hope you'll stuill like it - it turned out a little different to how I planned the plot, but I think it will be interesting..._

_Again, we'll forget that Numy came from Tyra (who made up this silly name? it's Numair!) and everything we know about Carthak's past, just in case I overlooked somethng again..._

_Disclaimer: Sure, Arram's not mine...his words are and the way he behaves, but that's based on Tammy's books...also "Thak" is taken from her books...;-)_

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**Difficult is how I call this!**

_First part:_ Hope/_Chapter 3_: Presentiment

While Luda finished her housework, Arram talked about what had happened. She praised him for the amount of mushrooms and reassured him that he would take the magic-test in three years along with his year-mates.

„Where's the surprise, ma?"

„I can't bring it here ... but I can take you there", his mother said in a very mysterious way. „ Maybe you can go to school next week, the teacher wants to see you now."

„Really? Mother, it's incredibly thoughtful of you to persuade him. I swear I'll do my very best to impress him, consequently he will have to take me! Come on, let's go, I'm gonna go to school!"

With these words Arram dragged his mother out of the house.

They walked along the main street, bound for the next village where the school house was situated. Both the boy and Luda seemed to be deep in thought. Arram dreamed of himself doing interesting experiments concerning magic, and potions, learning how to read and write, and learning more about the ancient times of which his father had told him.

Mrs Draper was also thinking about her son: Sometimes he seemed so close to her, she felt like she could read his mind when she looked into his huge brown eyes, and although he began to develop his very own ideas and opinions, most of the time she knew where they came from. Still, at other times he surprised and in some way frightened her because he used words she had scarcely heard before and definitely never used herself. She had absolutely no idea where her boy had got them from. Another problem were his great dreams. Sure, every boy dreamed of something, especially of being powerful, famous, handsome, and rich, yet sometimes when he talked about becoming a powerful mage, she felt like it sounded very serious, too serious to be only a dream.

When the Drapers reached "Manita's School", Luda quit her confusing thoughts and admonished herself to be happy about being able to give her beloved son at least the chance to attend school and this even earlier than other children.

Standing in front of the door, Arram looked at his mother with a rarely shown shyness, and asked her to enter first. She pulled up one eyebrow, then smiled and opened the door when she saw something shimmering in his eyes. "Another thing to think about", she told herself, "What's it that Arram is afraid of?"

"Manita's School", despite of being the only one in an area of about five kilometres, consisted of only one room and a small chamber, not much larger than a cupboard. The chamber was the teacher's room where he could store some of his working materials and other needed things. In the larger room he held the lessons.

Mr. Anias, the teacher, was quite old with grey hair he wore cut shortly, a firm voice used to call attention to its owner, and dressed with simple clothes: breeches and a tunic. He sat at his desk, his head bent deeply upon a staple of written papers. In the moment he heard the door being opened and some visitors' footsteps, he looked up and smiled at Arram. Now he seemed much younger, although the deep lines in his face still revealed his true age.

"Mrs Draper, nice to see you. Hope you're well. So you brought Arram to me?"

"Good afternoon, Mr Anias. Are you still working? Yes, this is my youngest son, Arram Silas. Come on, Arram, say hello to your new teacher", she told her son who had left one foot outside the house, and therefore seemed ready to run away. At his mother's request he advanced one step, then another, and froze.

The boy looked around the poorly furnished classroom with unhidden amazement.

"They have so many pictures in here of things I've never seen before. And on some papers there are even signs that look exactly like the letters daddy always showed to me. They must mean something, I'll learn reading and writing! At last!"

After another welcoming smile by the teacher, Arram kissed his hand and looked into the old man's eyes, and the old man looked into Arram's face. Arram saw intelligence and dignity, the teacher discovered a glowing interest in everything that happened around him in the boy's eyes and a lot of pride.

"Well Arram, I'm glad to meet you for your mother already told me a lot about you. she said you would love to go to school as soon as possible."

"Yes, that's what I want to do."

"Why do you want to start school right now, you could wait another year to join the 'Mandalan Study Group' where your mother is, if I remember correctly, one of the teachers. Or if you want to attend my school, why in this year and not in the next?"

"Because I've been a child for long enough! Children miss all the fun, they're not able to read or write, and they don't know anything about the Lazuos and how they formed their language, Thak."

"You know about the Lazuos, boy? Who told you this fairy tale?"

"My daddy. But it's not a fairy tale, it's the truth! The ancient Lazuos wrote many papers where they listed spells and methods to make everybody on earth happy, and wealthy,"

"So, your daddy… But I'm sorry, my child, to tell you that your father was wrong. It may be true that these people existed, I am only the teacher of a small school in a small village, what do I know? But something I can tell you for sure: All other governments we had before our divine Emperor Azad ak-Lusha were cruel and unjust to their people. Be happy to live in these happy and peaceful times and give up worrying about the past."

Realising how shocked the boy in front of him looked, the old teacher added, "As for your other arguments, I am sure I'll be able to teach you how to read, and write, and the use of your brain. What is your occupation?"

"I love playing in the woods with my friends and visiting my sisters and other shepherds when they're outside in the fields." Distracted by the warning tone of the man's voice, Arram had quickly realised that he had touched a forbidden or at least dangerous subject, and didn't dare to mention that he spend most of time trying to make the kind of potions he had heard so much about from his father's stories.

"I'm sure you'll gave plenty of time to do all you like. Well, Arram, then I think I'll see you next week here in my class. I hope you memorised the way thoroughly, for at the moment you're my only Mandalan pupil. I think, the "Mandalan Study Group" robs me of all my work.", the teacher said, now smiling again. Arram kissed his hand again and the Drapers left.

Mr Anais shook his head. This boy was sweet and knew how to behave, for sure he would make a good pupil, especially if he was as intelligent as he seemed to be. but exactly this was dangerous. Already after their first short encounter, Mr Anais had the impression that Arram was extremely curious and had understood that his speech about the old times didn't exactly contain the truth… It wasn't wise, to ask questions in times like this and the old teacher feared that Arram's curiosity and demand for truth and justice was stronger than his education…

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_So...that was that...tell me how you liked it. Actually I think there are some very strange expressions in it - and also many Gerunds, which is not the common American (for most of you are from America I think) style... My English teacher would love me for this though..._

_And now some answers for the people how are so nice as to read my texts...why are some fics read by much more people than mine are? How do they do this? beggingyoutotellallofyourfriends_

_**I Love the Irish**: Interesting name ;-) How comes you think I don't know any English after having read something like 1000 words of mine, written in English? Do you spell these small gaoties "kid" oder "kidd"? Well, thanks for reviewing and I hope you read on...!_

_**lireal the lazy**: Yeah, I'm very proud of me...but writing is like being addicted, you know this.Basically (I have no idea if this word fits here, but i absolutely wanted to use it!)basicall, I don't have any time, but I can't help...well, the nights are long ;-) This is longer, isn't it? ;-) fishesforcompliments_

_**megster**: I'll let him use different words, let's see which one he likes best ;-) And I hope it'll get clear how I see his character in his childhood, I already tried to mention it...this was about your suggestio to use "mother"...well, ou'll see -but therefore you'll have to read on poke_

_**Maud**: Actually it was not written for you...but because you mailed me I got back into all of these thoughts about you-know-who (of course I never forgot him, but my love floated back completely...) and that's why I wrote this story...it's dedicated to you! My god, dyou think this would sound as silly in German?_

_**um**: where/who/what are you? ;-)_


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